Walking-beam conveyers serve to transport heavy articles by a composite motion comprising a lift-transport-lower-return sequence to advance the material or articles to be moved. Such articles may be coils of sheet material and the like of a weight of about 10-50 metric tons each. The articles rest on support rails or beams flanking the "walking" beams and are lifted therefrom, advanced and lowered thereon during each operating cycle.
A walking-beam system is known in which the beam-drive mechanism comprises a hydraulic cylinder. The cylinder is mounted substantially flush with the mill work floor and the effective stroke of the cylinder is greater than the overall length, with respect to the direction of travel, of the article to be moved. Such an arrangement takes up a large amount of space. Furthermore, because of the relatively large effective stroke of the cylinder, it is not possible to move the walking beam or its separately displaceable sections in a completely straight line. Thus, skewing of the assembly occurs because the walking beam is not closely guided laterally or from above but merely rests on the guide-roll heads.
In addition, the effective length of the conveyer is limited to the length of the effective stroke of the cylinder because the stroke has to take into account the loading of the walking beam by relatively heavy articles.